The Hedge School

New in stock: "Manual for Women". A beautiful devotional for women with writings from the Saints, from Scripture and from Church documents. Get yours today (also makes a great gift!).
https://thehedgeschool.net/product/manual-for-women/

Just in time for Back to (Home)School: All Children's Hardback Books on sale!

Children's Hardbacks - The Hedge School Filter View: 18 36 All Quick View -10% Quick View €20.00 Original price was: €20.00.€18.00Current price is: €18.00. Rated 5.00 out of 5Sanctus, Sanctus, SanctusISBN: 9781505128291, Children's Hardback Publisher: TAN Books Preview now!    Add to cart Add to Wishlist Add to Wishlist Quick Vi...

Hurry--it's our last day to save on Summer Reading books for adults! Browse a variety of quality Catholic books today at www.TheHedgeSchool.net

Summer Reading - The Hedge School Filter View: 18 36 All Quick View -20% Quick View €17.00 Original price was: €17.00.€13.60Current price is: €13.60. Seven Lies About Catholic HistoryIn Seven Lies about Catholic History, Diane Moczar (author of Islam at the Gates) tackles the most infamous and prevalent historical myths abou...

Friday is the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine!

Read more about the apparitions:
In the first apparition of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, He enveloped her in a mystical experience of His love. St. Margaret stated that Our Lord invited her 'to recline for a long time on His divine breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of His love and the unutterable secrets of His Sacred Heart.'

In the second apparition, a First Friday in the year 1674, Jesus showed St. Margaret His Sacred Heart, which she said was 'more dazzling than the sun and transparent as crystal...The Cross stood above It, and a crown of thorns encircled it, signifying the wounds It had endured as a result of our sins.'

Jesus told St. Margaret that He wanted to reveal His wounded Heart because He could not abide watching countless people turn away from Him. He wanted everyone to experience His love, mercy and grace, and thereby gain salvation.

**Have you got your copy yet?**
Fantastic new Irish history book available now, by popular historian Phillip Campbell.

An up-to-date Irish history book, focusing on our Catholic history! Learn about the Saints and Scholars that made Ireland famous.

(Also available, companion workbook for further study and homeschooling!)

Still enjoying your Easter Eggs? So are we!!

But do you know how the humble Easter Egg came to be?

There are many 'origin stories' behind the popular tradition of the Easter Egg. One of the stories features a wonderful miracle in the life of St. Mary Magdalene. . .

According to tradition, after Jesus' Ascension, Mary Magdalene—a wealthy woman of some importance—boldly stepped right up to Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. . .to convert him to Christianity! She happened to have a simple, ordinary egg in her hand (as she was going to tell him that Christ burst forth from the tomb, just like the baby chick bursts forth from its egg).

But the Emperor just laughed at her!, saying that Jesus had no more risen from the dead, than the egg in her hand was red. And *immediately*, the egg turned red as a sign from God to illustrate the truth of her message.

So go finish off your Easter Eggs, with a little prayer to St. Mary Magdalene thanking her for devotion and love of Jesus!

We're still celebrating Easter! Rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ!

"I arose and am still with thee, alleluia:
Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia;
Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia."

CONGRATS to Naomi Elizabeth O'Shea! You've won our Mother's Day giveaway.

Thank you to everyone who liked and shared our post!

MOTHER'S DAY OFFER: FREE BOOK

Happy Mother's Day
We love mothers! We are mothers!
To celebrate our m**s, our landslide victory and our own annual Day--we're offering a FREE BOOK to one lucky person!

Like & Share our page to be entered in our drawing for a FREE BOOK--"Apostles of the Culture of LIFE" (a €20 value). Sure to inspire us to even greater victories in the defense of our families and values.

T&Cs: Winner will be announced and contacted on Monday. ROI / UK only.

This weekend is a great time to thank and remember our dear Mothers, who work so hard for us and do so much for their children! Our work as mothers and carers is so, so important.

Don't forget to celebrate Mothers *tomorrow* and *Sunday*!

What's Mother's Day without Mothers?!

This month is a great time to teach our children about sacrifice. Our job as home educators is not only to teach our kids maths, reading, reading, even Irish--as important as those things are--our job is to make them (and ourselves!) Saints.

We entered our vocations of marriage to become Saints. But we cannot be Saints without first dying to ourselves--and rising to new life in Christ. We all know the struggles of a windy baby, an ill-tempered toddler, the school age child who. just. can't. get. reading., etc. But we also all know the rewards that come from being patient, from not losing our own tempers, not doing what we want--the rewards that come from giving of ourselves and serving others!

Lent

Although sometimes we dislike all the penances, extra prayers and violet vestments, Lent was given to us by the church **for our own salvation**. We must repent of our sins and do penance to be saved. And the Church in her wisdom appoints this time every year to remind us of one of our most fundamental duties as Christians.

We wish ye all a happy and holy Lent.

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who came out for our Winter (Hedge)School Tour today! We had two tour groups and a picnic in between.

We had a few cancellations and some rainy, gloomy weather for the first group of students and parents--but we still had a good time.

Thankfully, by time for our picnic, the rain started to improve. After the picnic, our second group of about 60 students and parents got to enjoy a drier experience of the Heritage Site.

Thanks to everyone for braving the rain! And to everyone who was sick or otherwise could not make--hope ye feel better soon!

Our next (Hedge)School Tour is scheduled for FRIDAY at the Rock of Cashel--We're sooo excited to meet all *118* parents and children signed up!!

Parents: you can email us or upload your children's work here to enter our contest for a bookstore voucher!

Did you know that, according to Church tradition, each of three Wise Men became a Saint?

We all know the Christmas Story--the Three Kings visit the child Jesus in Bethlehem, following a new Star. They are warned to avoid the murderous King Herod and return to their own country some other way. . . But what then?

According to tradition, following their return to their own homelands, the Three Kings lived apart for a number of years preaching the Good News of God's Incarnation and converting their countrymen. They later reunited for one last time--all Three Wise Men together--in the year 54 AD in Kingdom of Armenia, to celebrate Christmas together! And this Christmas celebration would be their last on earth!

Each man died in quick succession after this final meeting. Their relics were discovered in Persia by St. Helena (the mother of Constantine) and then transferred to Constantinople, then to Milan and finally to the beautiful Cologne Cathedral, where they still reside! Sts. Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, pray for us!

January is the Month of the Holy Name

January reminds us to show special respect and honour to the Holy Name of Jesus.

This month, we sanctify our home school by:
Teaching your children to bow their heads when Jesus and Mary are named.
Teaching them to genuflect in church.
Teaching them to make the Sign of the Cross slowly and with reverence.
And teaching them to honour priests and the bishops as well, and to pray for our church leaders.

(Let's remember to do all these things ourselves, too!)

Happy Epiphany!

Over the next few days, we'll share some interesting insights into the life and deaths of the Wise Men! . . . Enjoy!

This beautiful feast day commemorates the visit of the Magi (Sts. Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior). We also remember the other manifestations of Christ on this important feast: the Baptism of Jesus and also His first public miracle at the Wedding at Cana.

The Feast of the Epiphany has a LOT of nick-names. The Feast is also fondly called "Little Christmas". Another name--one we all know!--is Nollaig na mBan (literally, "Women's Christmas"). And Epiphany is also known as Old Christmas, Green Christmas and Twelfth Night.

All these various nick-names originated owing to a slight difference in the liturgical calendars between churches located in the East of the Roman Empire, and those located in the West--all the way back in the 4th Century! At that time, Eastern churches celebrated Christmas Day on the 6th of January, while those in the West celebrated Christmas Day on 25 December. Many centuries later, Pope Gregory introduced his famous Gregorian Calendar. The Calendar corrected previous errors in the Julian Calendar and solidified the date of Christmas as 25th December for Roman Catholic countries (and many Protestant countries as well, most notably the United States).

20% off all Catholic books and FREE SHIPPING (ROI) sitewide!
Use coupon Code: Andrew

https://thehedgeschool.net/bookshop/

Hurry, sale ends: the Feast of St. Andrew, 30th November

(Free shipping ROI only. For Northern Ireland: Free shipping over €45)

The Hedge School Authentically Irish, Faithfully Catholic:
A Catholic Irish Homeschool Curriculum

Congrats to J.D. for submitting a written narration from our recent (Hedge)School Tour of Glendalough. She wins a €5 voucher to our bookstore! (And congrats to her mam, too!)

And thanks again to everyone who came out on the day!

St. Francis, pray for us!
Selection is from a beautiful children's book about St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio.

Our first (Hedge)School Tour of the year was last Friday in Glendalough. Thanks again to everyone who came out, about 70 in all on the day! We had a blast and can't wait to see ye all again!

Happy feast of St. Michael! Michaelmas. A great day to celebrate the archangels and even all our gaurdian angels.

We recently learned about the so-called 'St. Michael's Sword'--a line drawn across 7 chapels dedicated to St. Michael across Europe and the Middle East (starting at Skellig Michael!!). Although they are not actually *perfectly* aligned, it is a good reminder of the power of St. Michael over the devil and also of our calling as Christians to walk on the straight and narrow path to heaven!

Have a great feast day! 👼⚔️

Just a reminder that our (Hedge)School Tour of Glendalough is coming up *Next Friday*, 29th September! We're so excited to meet everyone who has signed up--97 people in all! It's going to be a great day!!

We're big on re-establishing Catholic community here at The Hedge School!

We are currently working on our first (Hedge)School Tours, in which we will visit select historical sites throughout Ireland. The first Tour will be 29th September at Glendalough Visitor Centre at 12.30, followed by a picnic. All homeschoolers/unschoolers/etc. are welcome!

It *should* be free for children--though parents will have to pay a small fee (of around €5). I'm working on finalising the details about that and will update the post accordingly.

Everyone welcome! If anyone is interested in coming, please confirm by PM or comment below by *Wednesday at noon*, and the number of children and adults.

Happy Feast of Pope St. Pius X! The pope of the Eucharist and the pope who lowered the age for First Communion. He called the Eucharist the 'shortest and safest way to get to heaven'. St. Pius X, pray for us!

Browse our books about the Mass and the Eucharist and grow in devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament: https://thehedgeschool.net/product-category/view-all-books/childrens-books/about-the-mass/

Lá Fhéile Naomh Muire san Fhómhar! The Feast of Holy Mary at Harvest Time.

To celebrate, we're offering 15% off all Marian titles TODAY ONLY. (Free shipping over €45.) Shop now: https://thehedgeschool.net/product-category/books-general-interest/books-about-mary/

This beautiful image is from a memorial in Youghal, commemorating the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption.